Moving from Massachusetts to work in Hanover Park, IL. Looking for advice on areas to live. (Chicago: apartment complex, crime)

[Nicoderm111]

Hey everyone and Happy Thanksgiving.

I found out last week I will be moving to IL to work in Hanover Park. I am 25 years old, single, and looking for an area to live that is:

- A younger crowd with a decent bar scene
- A 30 min or less commute to work
- Provide decent access to the Chicago area
- A decently safe area, crime is limited

Somewhere in between Chicago and Hanover would be awesome, but I just have no idea how the actual areas are.

Thanks!

[chet everett]

The most populous suburb near Hanover Park is Schaumburg. Safety is good in all but the most rundown apartment complex. I don't know what sort "bar scene" you have for comparison, but there are many "afterwork" oriented restaurants that also have sort of sports bar / tap house kind of clientele. There are similar places in Roselle, Itasca, Honover Park itself as well spots in unincorporated areas between towns.

You could probably make it into hotspots inside Chicago under an hour off-peak from most of these towns and be within 30 minutes of work, but there are not many options that will put you equidistant from both...

[ToriaT]

There are bars all over Chicago and the suburbs but most of the happening bar scenes are in Chicago which will be too far in my opinion to commute. The truth is there are young people living all over the actual city of chicago and the suburbs too. Let me recommend a few places to look. Since you are from the East Coast you may want to look into the towns of St. Charles, Geneva, Wheaton or Glen Ellyn. There are no real bar scenes in these places but there are of course many restaurants and bars in these towns and neighboring areas. Also parks and recreation facilities. I mention these towns because of their traditional appearance and amenities and many have said they are reminded of New England. In fact Wheaton was developed by people from the east coast who brought their architecture with them. These communities are family oriented but there are young people who also live in them. Other nice places that might not be too far would be Schaumburg and Bloomingdale. I personally do not like them as much because neither of them have a real town center the way the others do. These areas would not be a bad commute to Hanover Park, and most offer expressway and train access to Chicago.

[Nicoderm111]

Thanks for the help. Toria - I am actually from Ohio moving again from New England for work, so I am looking for the mid-west feel.

What about towns like Oak Park, Elmhurst, Berwyn, Cicero, etc all of those cities I am seeing fall about 30 minutes each way between Hanover and Chicago on google maps?

How would the traffic be if I am driving away from the city (surrounding Chicago areas to Hanover) during the morning commute and back in the evening??

[dan1024]

I used to live in Roselle, in fact, I lived there my entire life until I moved to the city a few months ago. Roselle is right next to Hanover Park, which is where I went to middle school. I would not recommend living in the city due to the heavy traffic. I don't know your tolerance level, but sitting on the expressway barely moving everyday will totally wear you down (during normal rush hour times). One reason I moved into the city was to decrease my commute time. Also for the bar scene (I am also a 25 year old single male). I agree with chet; Schaumburg is a great place to live if you do not decide to move into Chicago. Schaumburg has many places to go, and the bars aren't too bad, especially for a young single individual. The commute would be great to work as well.

[ToriaT]

all of the places you mentioned are too far away from Hanover Park in my opinion. The closest, Elmhurst is even too far for your criteria. In traffic it could be an hour or even more. Generally stick to places west of rt. 53 and then your commute time will be more reasonable. Forget Cicero its got some problems such as gangs. You can read about it on here if you do searches. Also Berwyn has been written about extensively too. any place that has been mentioned will have a midwest feel regardless of the architecture or the way it looks because the people are midwesterners by and large and are different in some ways from folks on the east coast.

Also distances look closer on a map but turn out to be farther when you drive them in rush hour. A rock solid piece of info for comparison I can give you is it takes about 30 mins to drive from Wheaton to Wooddale where my mom lives. I do this during the day not rush hour and I go near the speed limit. Elmhurst to Hanover Park will probably take around 45 min in the best times and more in rush hour and the snow in winter.

[Nicoderm111]

Toria - That's insane! I am looking at the map and its telling me 16 miles from Elmhurst to Hanover Park, the traffic is bad enough to turn that into an hour+???

Looks like Schaumburg is my best bet, is there a train system into Chicago from that area??

[dan1024]

Nicoderm - yes, the Metra train has a stop at Schaumburg and goes to Union Station - which is in the Loop.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by Nicoderm111

Toria - That's insane! I am looking at the map and its telling me 16 miles from Elmhurst to Hanover Park, the traffic is bad enough to turn that into an hour+???

Looks like Schaumburg is my best bet, is there a train system into Chicago from that area??

Its not going to take 1+ hours to get from Elmhurst to Hanover Park. I can drive from Oak Park to Geneva in a bit over an hour via the Elgin-O'hare expressway and that's a significantly longer drive. My guestimate would be about 30 minutes in the morning and probably a little bit longer in the afternoon.

The expressways around there generally flow pretty well even during rush hour until you get east of the Tri-State. OTOH, I-290 east of the Tri-State is stop and go pretty much constantly going inbound.

[Alacran]

I drove towards roselle once on a small street and I was weirded out